The Picture of Dorian Gray

I admit it: my prior knowledge of Dorian Gray came solely from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie. The character intrigued me, so I picked up the book.

It (and he) wasn't what I expected. Still, it's easy to see why it's a classic.

The story is slightly slow in parts (much of the book is dialogue, though the plot does gain pace midway), but the story's undercurrent is what has made it last. The picture is "a visible symbol of the degradation of sin. Here was an ever-present sign of the ruin men brought upon their souls."

The effect of the man's sin (seen in the picture) seems to ring true universally. It speaks deeply of the human condition. Wilde writes, "He hated to be separated from the picture that was such a part of his life... in spite of the elaborate bars that he had caused to be placed upon the door."

The book is fully of deep one-liners. Don't be fooled by its size. This is no quick read. But a classic reader will find a rich work here.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic of English Lit, and like many Victorian-era novels, it is constructed as a social discourse. Because it is a classic, the language and structure of the novel are dated, with long narrative descriptions of actions and settings. Anyone going into the novel with an expectation of a quick read will be disappointed. Those who enjoy classic literature with its embellished use of language will find plenty to sink their teeth into.

The plot revolves around three main characters: Dorian Gray, a young English ingénue; Basil Halliward, Dorian’s friend and painter; and Lord Henry Wotton, jaded English aristocrat. Dorian is a model for Basil’s paintings, and during an afternoon of posing for a portrait, he meets Basil’s friend Lord Henry, who espouses a neo-paganistic world view suggesting that Youth and Beauty are the great divine, which compels impressionable Dorian to make a wish that his own youth and beauty be preserved while the portrait grows old in his place.

Shortly thereafter, Dorian visits a small theatre and becomes infatuated with a beautiful young actress Sybil Vane. When Dorian convinces Basil and Lord Henry to visit the theater and meet her, Sybil gives the worst stage performance of her career. Disillusioned by the ugliness of her acting, Dorian breaks their engagement. When Sybil later commits suicide and Dorian notices the first lines of cruelty mar the face in the portrait, he realizes that the portrait is a picture of his soul, and that the payment for his earthly sins are visited upon the portrait while he remains eternally young and beautiful. Horrified by the sight of the portrait’s shifting appearance, Dorian covers it and locks it away so no one will ever know about his inexplicable secret.

The first half of the novel is a very long build-up to the Faustian-like secret of the portrait, and while the fact that Dorian’s wish is mysteriously granted by Fate make the novel a Gothic horror, it does not contain any traditional horror elements in popular fiction. The “magic” of the wish being granted is not a topic of discussion in the story, nor is it focused on as a sub-plot to the varied social themes that dominate the novel.

I would recommend this to anyone who appreciates literature, as its social themes remain thought-provoking even in modern society. If, however, you are inspired to read it based on the latter adaption of Oscar Wilde’s title character in films such as “The League of Extraordinary Gentleman” be warned: modern Hollywood adaptations are glamorized for the purposes of selling films, and bear only token similarity to the original work.

A wonderfully engrossing book, which brilliantly blends the themes of Ecclesiastes and the search through the world's vanities with the horror of Midas granted the wish that would destroy all that he loved. Brilliantly written. Just superb.

Drastically different from his more whimsical comedies or his simpler parables, but thrillingly poignant nonetheless. There is a great deal of chatter throughout the book that slows the story significantly. Chapter eleven, for instance, is one of the best examples of a montage I've seen in literature, and it is ably carried off.

It seems rather ambiguous throughout whether Wilde admired Gray's hedonism and self-destruction: certainly many of Lord Henry's diabolically manipulative monologues are delivered with the air of an author speaking through his creation, and Basil's voice can hardly be said to be Henry's foil, as it is both confusing and snuffed out rather quickly. I'm not sure what to make of this ambivalence. I'm not sure whether I like it, either as itself or as a literary device, but I suppose it is rather central to the book.

Didn't we, even at one point in our lives, desire immortality and eternal youth? History has several examples of this particular kind of drive--Juan Ponce de Leon searched for it and set foot on Florida.
But what if, impelled by some insiduous desire for hedonism, by some prayer to an all-hearing Fate [or the all-hearing Devil], you get your portrait painted, and your portrait became the reflection of your existence. You never grow old, but it does. The ravages of sin and excess would be written upon its face, but it would never mar yours. What would you do? Continue living your normal humdrum life, or indulge in the most debauched excesses, if only to test the hypothesis of your parallel existence in the painting? In the end, after all you have done would be written on the face of the painting, would you notice it--would you manage to look into your own eyes and see the depravity that lurks beneath that malevolent gaze? Could you murder? Could you kill yourself when all you have done has exposed your heart to the world--when your realize the defilement that you have engineered?
Those are the themes that this most brilliant novel of the 19th century explores and brings to a most gruesome, although very apt end.

Oscar Wilde never ceases to amaze me. This book is absolutely amazing. Though I know it was a classic and it had been recommended to me before, I never considered reading it. However, I heard that Colin Firth will be in a movie adaptation coming out, so I decided to go ahead and read the book to get the real story firsthand.

This book evokes every possible emotion out of the reader; fear, anger, depression, love, joy, disgust, compassion, amazement.. I couldn't stop turning the pages. Wilde examines the glamour of popularity, beauty, love, and art in this chilling, yet endearing tale of a young man who has so a lot of internal conflict and constantly battles with himself due to his vanity and pride. This novel is poetic and lovely and absolutely a story that I consider to be one of the best I have ever read. I definitely recommend it, there is simply no review that can do justice. Wilde is a genius and Dorian Gray should be lauded as one of the greatest classics.

*spoiler alert*
The prose in this novel is lyrical. I find it hard to put down at times. It's hard to pin point what Oscar Wilde is driving at on this work. Here is a man who values aesthetics and pleasure over morality because it appears not to have any consequences on him. The picture of his soul changed over time and his is somewhat of a voyeur to his own life. He had trampled upon many young people to his own amusement and never appeared to care. Nothing is ever his fault and never had to pay. When it appeared the time had come he was finally fearful. He brought everything to an end for himself when he thought he was safe for the rest of his life. It is odd. You almost see it coming. This sort of plot twist has been used so many times before. It was written in an age when people were not as cynical as we are today. So in comparison, what is morality to us? What is cruelty? I don't think this book taught me how I should lead my life. It's a great book. It's something everyone should read.

Le Portrait de Dorian Gray est un roman d'Oscar Wilde, publié en 1890. Dorian Gray est un jeune homme d'une très grande beauté. Son ami artiste peintre Basil Hallward est obsédé par cette dernière et en tire toute son inspiration. Sa fascination pour le jeune homme le mène à faire son portrait, qui se révèle être la plus belle œuvre qu'il ait jamais peinte, et qu'il ne souhaite pas exposer : « J'y ai mis trop de moi-même ».

Dorian va faire la connaissance de Lord Henry, dit Harry, un ami de Basil. Conscient de la fascination et de la perversion que ce dernier pourrait avoir pour son idéal de beauté, « cette nature simple et belle », Basil demande à Lord Henry de ne pas tenter de le corrompre. Mais Dorian se laisse séduire par les théories sur la jeunesse et le plaisir de ce nouvel ami qui le révèle à lui-même en le flattant : « Un nouvel hédonisme […] Vous pourriez en être le symbole visible. Avec votre personnalité, il n'y a rien que vous ne puissiez faire ». Va naître dès lors en lui une profonde jalousie à l'égard de son propre portrait peint par Basil Hallward. Il souhaite que le tableau vieillisse à sa place pour que lui, Dorian Gray, garde toujours sa beauté d'adolescent. « Si le tableau pouvait changer tandis que je resterais ce que je suis ! ».

Le garçon tombe par la suite amoureux d'une comédienne, Sibyl Vane, et lui promet le mariage. L'amour empêchant Sibyl de bien jouer, Dorian la répudie, ce qui la pousse au suicide. Il remarque alors que le portrait s'est empreint à sa place d'une expression de cruauté et comprend que son vœu a été exaucé.

Par peur que quelqu'un ne découvre son terrible secret, il enferme le tableau dans une ancienne salle d'étude et se plonge dans la lecture d'un mystérieux roman que lui offre Lord Henry. Bien des années passent durant lesquelles il accumule les péchés et devient de plus en plus mauvais sous l'influence de Lord Henry et de ce livre empoisonné. Le tableau prend sur lui la laideur de l'âge et de la décadence. Gray finit par révéler son secret à Basil, puis, comme celui-ci l'accuse et le traite de meurtrier, fou de haine, il le tue.Il se debarrasse ensuite du cadavre avec l'aide de Alain Campbell en usant du chantage. Pour oublier sa culpabilité, Dorian se rend dans les bas-fonds de Londres fumer de l'opium.James Vane,le frère de Sibyl Vane, un marin, l'y reconnaît et tente de le tuer. Dorian échappe à la mort grâce à son éternelle jeunesse : en effet, il ne parait que vingt ans alors que les faits se sont déroulés dix-huit ans plus tôt ! Le marin n'est dupe qu'un instant et cherche à retrouver Gray. Il meurt plus tard, accidentellement, tué par des chasseurs dans la demeure d'une amie de Dorian. Dorian, poursuivi par sa mauvaise conscience, décide alors de devenir sage. Après sa première bonne action, il court voir si le portrait n'aurait pas embelli mais la toile porte encore plus qu'avant les traits de la vanité et de l'hypocrisie. Désespéré, Dorian enfonce le couteau qui a tué Basil dans le tableau. Un homme vieux et hideux est retrouvé mort en face du tableau, qui a retrouvé sa beauté première. Après examen des bagues du défunt, on reconnaît en lui Dorian Gray.

I'm adding this book first because I just finished it while on vacation. It is vastly different than the other books I've read by Oscar Wilde, who is best known for his play 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. 'the Picture of Dorian Grey' is a commentary on society and their reaction to various philosphies being spread at the time the book was written. In it you follow the life of Dorian Grey, a young man recieving his induction into the elite of British society; he is lauded for his physical beauty, and in a moment of passion wishes he could sell his soul for eternal youth and beauty. This wish comes true in a most unexpected way, allowing him to keep his physical beauty no matter what, but still forcing him to stare into the face of all his wrong decisions.
This book is not a light read, although it is short. The style of writing is dream-like, almost surreal, and adds a disturbing quality of reality to the story. The philosophical elements are deep, difficult to understand, and if you don't have some knowledge of the subject it may be confusing. This being said, I think it is still a must-read book. Oscar Wilde presents some brilliant insights into the human mind, and how people react as a whole when presented with new ideas. He writes free of slant, allowing you to form your own conclusions; as a result, you will be thinking about this book long after you read the last page.

A riveting tale discussing our ideas of beauty, youth, good and evil, and the soul with one of those great endings that leaves much up to discussion.

Most of the book takes place in cocktail party conversations, largely between Mr. Gray and Lord Henry, which I found unique. I find Oscar Wilde sums it up well with "You would sacrifice anybody, Harry, for the sake of an epigram." The reason Oscar Wilde is so quotable is that his characters (Lord Henry here) adore the one line quips; wild statements that can't be argued with due to their simplicity in words.

A few parts fell dull towards the middle, if by intent or due to dissociation from Wilde's time period I could not tell. The book overall felt a little long, especially for how brief the climax was. However, I would contend, that the open climax left up to debate. I, like the previous reviewer Ms. Lindberg, am desperate to discuss it.

fantastico Oscar Wilde, che qui nella sua opera più famosa riesce a far diventare questo libro un capolavoro della Letteratura inglese... Qui l esaltazione della bellezza, il culto del bello e l esaltazione del piacere in una chiave edonistica vengono celebrati, e sono contrapposti alla società vittoriana, borghese e conformista dell 'epoca...Wilde ci dice chela vita deve imitare l arte e non viceversa, quindi dobbiamo vivere secondo i canoni della bellezza, alla continua ricerca di essa, per trarne piacere, per avere un completo abbandono della vita ai sensi, a ciò che sentiamo, la bellezza di un corpo di una donna/uomo, il profumo di un fiore, perchè il mondo è bello e ovunque va ritrovata e vissuta pienamente questo splendore...
un grandissimo libro, scritto in uno Stile con la "S" maiuscola alla O.Wilde,con una proprietà di linguaggio, descrizione e anche inventiva e narrazione che fanno innamorare dell' Autore; non a caso viene sovente fatto leggere nelle scuole... passerà alla storia come uno dei più bei libri che abbia mai letto in assoluto.
leggetelo con attenzione nei particolari e cercate di immedesimarvi un pò in uno spirito edonistico per assaporarlo meglio...